National Blog

UPDATE: Congress suspends our rights!

UPDATE: Today, the House leadership pulled the bill increasing funding for the Kennedy Center. However, the FTO Passport Revocation Act of 2015 by voice vote. Interestingly, that first it appeared the passport bill was also being pulled from the schedule, but was then brought back up an hour latter. It was almost as if leadership was trying to make sure no member who opposed to the bill would insist on a roll-call vote.....

Tomorrow, the House of Representatives will vote on four bills on "suspension" of the rules. Suspension bills are debated for forty minutes, with no opportunity for amendment. These bills require a two-third majority vote for passage. The suspension calender is supposed to be reserved for non-controversial bills like naming Post Offices or expressing support for national daffodil day. However, tomorrow there are two bills that actually are substantive and deserve more attention then they are getting.

The first bill is H.R. 237, the " FTO Passport Revocation Act of 2015." This bill gives the Secretary of State the authority to deny a passport to anyone the Secretary determines has aided a foreign terrorist organization. The bill provides no ability for someone wrongly denied a passport to challenge the Secretary of State's findings that they helped a terrorist. So much for due process and reigning in executive power.

The second bill is H.R. 1473, which authorizes spending $190 million on DC's John F.Kennedy Center for the Preforming Arts. This represents an increase in federal spending on the Kennedy Center, an institution which largely exists to entertain the DC elite.

Campaign for Liberty members who support due process and ending wasteful spending should call their Representatives and tell them to oppose H.R. 237 and H.R. 1473.